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Volume 12 Issue 236
Santa Monica Daily Press
IN THE STARS SEE PAGE 13
We have you covered
THE WHERE’S SUMMER? ISSUE
Boston mob boss ‘Whitey’ Bulger guilty in 11 killings DENISE LAVOIE & JAY LINDSAY Associated Press
BOSTON
James “Whitey” Bulger, the feared Boston mob boss who became one of the nation’s mostwanted fugitives, was convicted Monday in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes, BULGER many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant. SEE BULGER PAGE 10
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com AT WORK: Science Inc.'s CEO Mike Jones discusses some of the startups that operate at the company's Second Street offices.
Planting seeds of success Science Inc., part company, part incubator, helps startups succeed
City Hall to spend $3.4M on new parking system BY AMEERA BUTT Daily Press Staff Writer
BY AMEERA BUTT Daily Press Staff Writer
SECOND STREET Where can you find a mobile application that makes dating easier or pick a chef who can whip up a gourmet lunch or dinner in the comfort of your own home? Santa Monica-based Science Media Inc., is a hybrid company and incubator that assembles, advises and acquires talented startups with the premise of working with entrepreneurs to help build their businesses or creating its own in-house companies. Science, which will be two years old in October and is located on Second Street in Downtown, originally raised $10 million in venture capital to get off the ground, and a supplemental $30
million in February of this year. Since its formation, Science has amassed various startups — 13 total — that include Let’s Date, a mobile dating app that connects people, and Fresh Dish, an in-house company that’s an on-demand personal chef service, providing restaurant quality meals directly to homes. Santa Monica, which is known as Silicon Beach for its collection of tech companies, was the prime choice for Science to make its home because the majority of venture capitalists are aggregated here, Mike Jones, CEO and founder of Science, said. “Half of our projects and companies we get involved in are entrepreneurs that pitch us ideas. We fall in love with them, invest money and resources in
them and they pull from the operational resources we have at Science,” Jones, a former president of MySpace and senior vice president of AOL, said. “The other half of companies we fall in love with and build them internally.” Each startup receives a different amount of cash to play around with depending on their potential, Jones, who has a background as a startup entrepreneur, said. “We don't have a specific investment doctrine that limits the amount of money we can put into the company,” Jones said. “If we really love the company or idea, we can put in as much as $1 million. At the end of the day, we are looking for great businesses to be
Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.
CITY HALL City officials propose to spend roughly $5.6 million Tuesday on a wide range of goods and services, including updating lights on the Expo Light Rail Line and purchasing furniture for the new Santa Monica Pico Branch Library. But the bulk of the money is going toward easing parking headaches. The City Council will be asked to spend $3.4 million for a centralized parking system
SEE SCIENCE PAGE 9 SEE CONSENT PAGE 8
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